


splatoon shorts

by aelou



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Multi, these are Basically my ocs only ft my friends ocs as well e
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-05-31 06:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19420759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelou/pseuds/aelou
Summary: just a couple of stand-alone chapters of splatoon nonsense. they connect to the main story ig idk. I just wanted to write about weird things.





	1. intro to all the ocs

This chapter is just an introduction to each team and their characters, as well as the weapons they use. As well as non-team related characters in the splatoonverse I have.

**TEAMS:**

**TEAM SUCKERPUNCH:**

XANDER: **he/him** An inkling who used to be part of his own separate team known as the Rising Tides, he left after Wrasse lost a bet to him and the duo met the two octolings known as Agent 8 and Agent 9, being Eight and Kampa respectively. He can main dualies as well as use splatterscopes. He's the unofficial leader of the team, and quite frankly the friendliest of the bunch. [ **belongs to my friend Ripley]**  
WRASSE: **she/her** An inkling who used to be a part of team Whiteout, she was replaced by Angel when she and Xander got lost in the deep sea metro. She's a competitive Aerospray main, and an annoying one at that. When she's not busy in fights, she's typically hanging around with her boyfriend, BENKEI. She plays guitar for her band known as the GRAYDIENTS.  
KAMPACHI: **xe/xer or they/them** Kampa, known formerly as Agent 9, is an octoling who used to be in Octavio's army before getting caught by Tartar and found by Xander and Wrasse. Xe mains a bloblobber, but used to be a sharpshooter in Octavio's army after Tartar sort of blinded them after being caught and made into Agent 9. Xe's a bubbly little bloblobber, and loves to have fun, and eat! Xe's dating ANA, their girlfriend who's a seaslug.  
EIGHT/RIPLEY: **he/him** An octoling who used to work on a lot of technology in Octavio's army, he was also caught by Tartar and made into Agent 8. He's more stoic than the rest of the team, but cares for them regardless. He mains anything that's a splatling, from a nautilus to a ballpoint nouveau. [ **belongs to my friend Ripley]**

**TEAM WHITEOUT:**

**  
** TOMINI: **he/him** A goblin of an inkling and leader of team Whiteout. He's a bastard who likes to run very FAST and mains a slosher. Kind of a dick. Not a bully, but definitely not a nice guy. His sibling is Angel, and they were born to a rather lavish family. However, after his mother's passing it seems he's always on bad terms with his father except for whenever Angel is around.  
DAMSEL: **she/her** A kensa roller main, Damsel can be seen working at Crusty Sean's when not fighting alongside her team. She's got a sense of humor, and hangs out with her friends quite often. She may or may not have a crush on ANGEL.  
HAWKE: **they/them** Hawke is best known to be the second in command of team Whiteout, but would willingly kick out Tomini in a heartbeat. Despite this, they're not mean to him, and understand he has issues of his own he has to work through, but still chastise him for his crude choice of actions and words. The smartest person on the team, Hawke can be seen working at Kensa industries designing to be released products. They main a goo tuber and nothing else, though one has to question why. They've got a crush on SABLE of team Rising Tide.  
ANGEL: **xe/xer** **or they/them** Angel is the sibling of Tomini, though it seems hard to tell as the hotheaded brat has nothing in common besides blood with the taller, collected inkling. Angel is mute, and speaks through ISL- inkling sign language. As intimidating as Angel is, xe wouldn't hurt a fly except for squids and octolings with their mini splatling.  
  


**TEAM INKSPILL:  
  
**WINNIE: **he/him** A pretty happy go lucky guy who leads his team, he mains the soda slosher and wears some really bright, almost painful to see clothes. He has heterochromia and one gold and one green eye as a result.  
PLECA: **he/him** A chill guy who loves to just relax and use his mini splatling to get whoever he can out, this inkling's sister is DAMSEL. He may or may not have a crush on Hachi, but he tries to be very emotionless about it. Not that he's any good at it.  
RAINE: **she/her** Raine is an optimistic gal who loves to have fun, and uses a .52 gal. She can be seen hanging around with SPHYR and DAMSEL, but typically can be noted working at your local Starfishbucks.  
HACHI: **he/him** An octoling who was nearly completely sanitized, yet escaped. How, no one knows, but he mains an octobrush and is pretty chipper as just about everyone else. He isn't aware of PLECA's feelings towards him. [ **belongs to my friend Ripley]**  
  
  
  
  
**TEAM CLAMITY:  
  
**SPHYR: **she/her** The leader of team Clamity, Sphyr is an octoling who escaped Octavio's army as early as possible, and seems haunted by her last lifestyle. She's very emotionless unless confronted, of which can easily cause her to snap. She prefers instead to hide and protect herself as well as her team using her brella.  
PORGY: **he/him** The clown of the team, Porgy loves to make everything into a joke. He mains an N-ZAP, and is quite a mess. Him and TOMINI are friends, and he's enemies with SLUGGER for his hatred of Conkakola versus SLUGGER'S love of Bepsi.  
HOLTI: **he/him or they/them** The most serious of the team, Holti uses an explosher and tends to keep to himself. He helped Sphyr escape and houses her, but despite living together Sphyr wonders what he seems to hide from the rest of the world. Holti is a strawberry squid, with a noticeably larger right green eye that also happens to be a lazy eye.  
BOOPS: **they/them** Boops is a pretty chill squidkid. They hang out with RAINE sometimes, but don't have many friends besides their team. Boops is just happy to have an excuse to be swinging around their dualie squelchers. 

  
**OTHER MISC TEAM CHARACTERS WHO DON'T HAVE FULLY DRAWN TEAMS:  
  
TEAM RISING TIDE:  
  
  
**SABLE: **she/her** An inkling who's a part of TEAM RISING TIDE, Sable is friends with Hawke and also chaotic as hell. When not working with her team, she can be seen working with Marie on her duties as Agent 4. [ **belongs to my friend Ripley]** **  
  
  
  
**SLUGGER: **he/him** An octoling who's part of team RISING TIDE, he's got an Aussie accent and mains the splattershot. He replaces XANDER when the inkling leaves to form team Suckerpunch. He's a blue ringed octopus, but wouldn't hurt anyone as he's all talk and no literal bite. 

  
There are two other members, being VAL and ERZA/TANGERINE. Both use **he/him** and VAL is an octoling, while Tangerine is an inkling. I do not have any art of them to post but they belong to my friend Ripley.

 **NON-TEAM RELATED CHARACTERS:**  


BENKEI/GRAY: **he/him or they/them** A Manta ray with a passion for cooking, he's attending culinary school at the moment and works part time and a local restaurant. He's pretty chill, and doesn't emote much at all. Despite this, he's a very nice manta and appreciates his friends as much as he can, as well as is dating WRASSE. The two share an apartment that often is crowded with KAMPA sleeping on their couch amongst the rest of team SUCKERPUNCH hanging out. He's the lead singer of WRASSE and SCOOT'S band called the GRAYDIENTS.  
CABANA/ANA: **she/her, he/him, or they/them** A genderless little seaslug who is in lesbians for her girlfriend, KAMPA! The two can be seen hanging out on occasion, but besides that Cabana is often found sleeping, at a Graydient concert, or watching one of Suckerpunch's games.

CHERRY: **she/her** Benkei's sister, the two are adopted siblings. Cherry is much more social and outgoing than Benkei, being rather competitive yet supportive of her friends. She's still sweet and nice, even if she's got a bit of spice when it comes to the possibility of winning!

JETTY: **he/him** A sea bunny sea slug whose younger sibling is CABANA. He's very laid back, and doesn't do much.

**  
** SCOOT: **he/him** A sea urchin who is the drummer for GRAYDIENT. He's quite eccentric and hangs out with BOOPS alongside VAL of team RISING TIDE. Kind of off the shits.

 **  
  
  
  
**TETRA: **he/him** A goblin of an octoling who escaped though no one really knows how. Loves to annoy the SHIT out of BENKEI and WRASSE and steal their food. Friends with DAMSEL. **[belongs to my friend Ripley]**


	2. happy together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> benkei learns about numbers and what they mean to him.

**“Now class, watch carefully what I do.”** The mantis shrimp at the head of the class held a small bag of flour and slowly poured it into the teal bowl, whisking steadily yet slowly as they added it into the mixture. 

The small class of students- being of diverse and rich backgrounds- equally stared back at the shrimp’s large bulging eyes with however many eyes they had. For Benkei, that would be  _ two _ . 

It would also be  _ two _ seconds of an interval between each whisk and each addition of flour. A careful, calculated rhythm to avoid any poorly beaten flour, as well as making sure the dough itself did not turn out too runny or too clumpy. A  _ singular _ beat to march on within his head as he would then have to do himself, as did the rest of the class.

**“Turn to your table partner. You will work together to make sure your batter turns out** **_exactly_ ** **as I have shown you, or you will be given a zero on this assignment. Chop chop! Get to it!”** The teacher commanded, their sharp little appendage making a painful squeak at the chalkboard at the lack of sudden action from the rest of the class. Ever a rude awakening, everyone scrambled to turn to the student facing next to them, hoping to get today’s work done as fast as possible. Cooking 101 wasn’t a mandatory class, but a lot of students took it in hopes of it being an easy A. Keyword there was  _ hoped.  _ It was, quite simply put, not at all.

Turning to his left, the manta ray beheld a quite short inkling fidgeting with her pen, flicking at the back of it nervously. He had never really paid any attention to any of the students around him, let alone the ones sitting near him, as he had found himself to be self sufficient. Socializing wasn’t his thing anyway- he found it somewhat distracting at times, and most of the seatings for classes were always randomized. One was a number that meant a lot to him- it represented himself, his ability to be on his own, and function on his own. It was a whole number, on its own, that required no other numbers surrounding him. But two? Two students working together? It almost felt to him as though he was letting someone else ride off of the grade he had scored for himself, but kept these thoughts contained in a chest within his mind.

**“Would you like to hold the flour or mix?”** Benkei prompted the question, staring on at the inkling with little expressiveness.

**“Huh-?”** _ Of course she wasn’t paying attention.  _ He would have to be patient to make sure he earned his A, it seemed.  **“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I have steady hands for either.”** Averting his gaze, she trailed off at the end of her speech, unaware of the tapping of her pen against the table.

He didn’t speak for a minute, only analyzing.

_ One- two- one two three four- one- two - one two three four.  _

She tapped the pen in this constant beat, an irregular one at that, but it wasn’t the metronome they would need for this assignment.

The inkling had sat pathetically, turning as Benkei tapped her on the shoulder to draw her attention. Holding out the whisk, he almost shoved it into her hand before taking the bowl of all the other ingredients and placing it in the center of the lab table.

**“Don’t worry. It’s just like that beat you’re doing- except its two by two.”**

Embarrassed by the fact he had caught onto her tapping a melody out, she panicked in response.  **“** **_What_ ** **? I told you, I’ll flunk you if you make me mix it!”**

**“Show me the beat you did before.”**

Sheepishly, the inkling tapped the  _ one two one two three four  _ beat that she had been doing before, before huffing.  **“What good is that? We’re mixing ingredients, not making music.”**

**“Music and cooking are both arts. Do a two and two beat now.”**

She flicked the whisk that now was in her hand against the table, presenting a  _ one two one two  _ boring monotonous beat, but was surprised to notice Benkei tapping his own thumb against the table to the boring beat.

**“That’s the amount of spacing we need between the mixing and the adding. Do you think you can mix for every other two beat?”**

Surprised by how this had seemed to simplify the task at hand, she shrugged, before saying,  **“If we don’t pass this, you can’t blame me, capiche?”** Inhaling, the inkling left her left hand against the bowl, holding it steady as she mixed with her right, humming to herself the melody.

When it was her turn, she would mouth the words  _ one two  _ before lifting the whisk up from the bowl, letting Benkei add in flour for his turn as he would merely tap his foot against the wooden floor to keep the pace. It was a rhythm that the two somehow maintained, though each passing set of four seemed to surprise the inkling more and more. She wasn’t steady, he was aware of that, but she did keep herself to the beat and made sure to mix accordingly. Of course, that would be properly judged by the teacher once they came around.

Gazing at the bowl as the mantis shrimp approached, their giant black eyes reflected the gloss of the batter at this point, now having a nice sheen and an ideal consistency for baking. Stopping the duo, they reached in with a single claw, flicking it up to their mouth and smacking their lips against it briefly, while the  _ two _ students stared attentively and in mild confusion.  _ Wasn’t raw dough something that could get you sick?  _ Benkei wondered if the student next to him demonstrated more knowledge than the teacher before him. That would surely be a first. 

**“Brilliant! Class, if any of you are struggling with this unit, feel free to ask for help from Benkei and Wrasse. Now, bake your doughs and come back to class tomorrow for a real grade for this unit!”** The teacher barked out, and with that the students took out plastic wrap frantically, covering the dough to bake at home and pray to Cod that it would bake well enough for the teacher’s liking. 

Benkei had covered his ceramic bowl by this point, putting everything he had brought in for class into his bag. He used  _ one  _ sheet as he covered it, before he heard a voice over his shoulder.  **“Hey, Benkei, right?”**

**“Yes. Wrasse, can I help you?”** He stared at the  _ one  _ student before him. 

“ **Uhm! I, uh,”** That hesitation was something she really needed to work on. Or maybe it was just a surprise that he answered that made her unable to answer? He didn’t bother asking.  **“I just wanted to say thank you for helping me through that unit. I didn’t think I’d figure out how she mixed it so well, but, it really means a lot that you worked with how I work and gave me a way to well, uh, mix it up!”** She smiled at the end of the statement. He was amused at best, but nothing more.

**“You’re welcome.”**

**“And, uhm, I don’t know how to put this, but uh, would you-”**

**“Your words lack rhythm, yet your actions have such a specific beat to them. Why not try using the same rhythm you used to mix?”** It was rare for him to interact with fellow students, let alone make a joke, but he doubted this one would even come across well.

**“Haha! Funny guy, are you? I like that! You’re not so stoic, are you?”**

Despite making a joke, he barely emoted much, though to her statement he raised a brow, and though it was hard to tell, she  _ swore,  _ he had raised the end of his lips into a small smile.

**“Well! Anyway, besides that, I was wondering- you’ve got a really nice sense of rhythm, and, uh, well, this is stupid actually,”**

**“I’m sure it’s not. Just ask.”** That was a lie. It might be. But he didn’t really mind- nowhere to be going oh so urgently.

Inhaling quickly, she forced the question out with all the gusto in her lungs.  **“Do you want to join my band?”**

He had been one for a long time- studying alone, working alone, doing his assignments alone. Maybe one had been a number he needed to put away. Maybe the number two would look better on him- it was even and easy to divide into one's if needed. But for now, it seemed the sudden prospect thrown upon him was interesting enough to prompt him to respond as he did.

**“Sure.”**


	3. run because they're chasing me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sphyr understands her strengths and weaknesses when confronted with her past.

The octoling’s life felt as accurate as her team’s name: a  _ c(a)lamity.  _ Escaping from the octarian army was one thing, but then being thrust into  _ fake  _ battles? It was strange. It was disorienting. What was the point of these fights if there was no one to truly  _ win  _ against? What good was a title against real threats that the inklings found themselves blind to, unable to even so much as note?

Sphyr had grown accustomed to these battles, nearly forgetting the fights- she hadn’t been in it long, nor had she been a major fighter to begin with. Yet being an underling was a position nonetheless, and one that truly haunted her. Thinking of the batch of octolings born within the same time as her, trained alongside her, all to know their deaths would be inevitable and inescapable unless they got stronger. 

That was her weakness. She couldn’t get stronger. Each time they were offered a rank up, she failed. She failed  _ miserably.  _ She couldn’t shoot a target in mere milliseconds, she couldn’t take out an array of targets with just one projectile, she couldn’t dodge the onslaught of inkstorms and inkzooka shots and constant enemy ink being thrown at her. There was one thing she was good at, and that was standing up. No matter how much came at her, she wanted to stand strong. If she were to die, it would be standing on her own two feet. 

That, however, was avoided by the luck of exploring far into one of the bases deep in the Octocanyon, finding gaps and nooks to squeeze through in her octoling form and find where these  _ “heroes”  _ spawned at. And she escaped, just like that- on her own, in a breach of the system. She knew she was abandoning her kin-  _ octolings made of the same flesh and blood of hers, doomed to the same fate as her-  _ but she had to remind herself as she pushed through.

_ They chose to rank up. I chose to  _ _ get out. _

Getting out was easier to reflect on in the past than it was in battles. Escape was easier when it was a life or death situation, not one of no circumstances. Not one where you came face to face with the same people who were given a silent death penalty yet stood before you to this day.

The last octoling she had ever expected to see outside of the canyon was the head sniper of her batch.

Each batch had octolings who were incredible in a variety of skills- be it sharpshooters, tanks, or stealth based attackers. In her batch, she recalled vividly the best sharpshooter, as xe was ever so enamoured by one of the higher ranking lieutenants. Lt. Sturgeon.

The sharpshooter was known for their ability to take down a target as far as 20 feet away, and sometimes even further with the right weapon. Xe was a threat, and xe was a danger to even the best in combat. Not that anyone would willingly fight them, as the lieutenant would forbid such a waste of strength. The two were inseparable and powerful- joint by the hip if not due to coming from different batches. But without that detail, one almost felt as though they were truly a duet. What happened to either, Sphyr had never looked back on, for they were both part of the system she so desperately fought to escape. Looking at them now felt like eating rotting memories, with fungus growing at the core.

**“** **_You_ ** **.”** The first words that came out of the sharpshooters mouth as Team Clamity and Team Suckerpunch took the field weren’t friendly. The glasses on the sharpshooter’s head led Sphyr to wonder in mild horror-  _ was xe  _ _ still  _ _ working with Octavio? _ But the weapon in xer hand betrayed them and their rank- a bloblobber. A slosher, better yet, a messy one specifically for those with poor aim. Why would the commander of snipers, of such incredibly specific aim, downgrade themselves to this, of all weaponry to use in turf?

**“I don’t know you.”** Sphyr bit back, raising her umbrella to protect herself from the onslaught of the splash of bubbles. 

**“But I know you, agent 80-4. You left us** **to** ** _die!”_** _Splash!_ Another flick of the bloblobber sent a wave of ink bubbles again at the brella main, who knew she wouldn’t be able to take on more hits like this. But she was cornered like a rat, and had no choice at this point but to save herself by all means possible. 

**“I did no such thing.”** She sidestepped, avoiding the next wave of bubbles by just a foot.

**“Tell that to your batch-mates.** **_TELL THAT TO STURGEON!”_ ** Xe hissed back, throwing again, not even aware of their low ink amount at this point. Instead, they just stood, a death glare from their eyes into Sphyr’s. At that, xe lowered the glasses, and only then did they realize what the glasses represented. Those were not theirs. Those belonged to the lieutenant and were amongst her prized possessions.

**“I DIDN’T KILL STURGEON. YOU MAY HAVE BEEN A COMMANDER, BUT YOU DON’T COMMAND WHAT I DID AND DIDN’T DO.”** Sphyr shouted back, watching as the wave of bubbles now hit their umbrella again, and at this hit, the umbrella did indeed collapse. There was no saving grace now.

**“No, you didn’t. But you** **_could’ve_ ** **prevented it. You could’ve taken us with you. You** **_SAW_ ** **what we were really working towards and didn’t tell any of us!”** Raising the bloblobber once more, Kampachi felt themselves scrunch up their nose in distaste at the octoling before them.  **“Instead, you ran away.”**

**“That’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at, Commander.”** Sphyr smirked, opening the small tablet in her hands. Kampachi froze, attempting to act quickly and throw the next wave of bubbles, only watching as the octoling super jumped over to spawn now. No longer cornered, the threats would be useless now.

Xe was right though, as Sphyr super jumped away, she watched the wave of sadness that overtook the other octoling. Xer friend was gone forever, and all xe had to say about it was a pair of glasses. She was skilled at ordering troops, and xe was good at taking down long distances targets. Sphyr was good at running away: from enemies, from problems. Even from victory, as she watched her team tragically lose against team Suckerpunch. As she gazed at the announcement, she couldn’t help but wonder to herself: maybe running was all she  _ would ever  _ be good at.


	4. underground loneliness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wrasse finds out she has signal in the deep sea metro. but only for a bit.

**_BZZ! BZZ!_ **

_ Today’s weather report! _

_ It’s sunny in Inkopolis- _

_ Sunny. _

_ Rainy. _

_ Weather is not loading. Weather will reload when wifi is available. _

**_BZZ! BZZ!_** ** _  
_**_You have FOUR unheard voicemails. Check your voicemails._

 ** _BZZ! BZZ!_** ** _  
_**_You have twelve missed calls and 40+ new texts. Your squidder feed will reload when wifi is available._

A squid shaped phone went off, vibrating against the hard plastic that formed the uncomfortable subway chairs along the two sides of the train. The steady locomotive continued onwards, a soft hum was all that could be heard of the engine of the deep sea metro.

Looking around for the source of the noise that woke her up from her nap, the inkling reached drowsily into her pockets, turning them inside out before sitting upright off the hard chairs she had attempted to uncomfortably lay on. Well, if it wasn’t with her, then she could probably rely on it being with a certain someone else.

Rubbing her eyes, she spoke to someone, though wasn’t even sure if they were anywhere nearby.

**“Kampa?”**

**“Huh? Oh, you woke up! What’s up?”**

**“What’re you doing on my phone now?”** Lowering her hands, she slowly opened her eyelids to see the octoling not being anywhere near said phone. In fact, she found it surprising- Kampa was busy on her octoling tablet figuring out which station would be best to go to next, given her frantic swiping on a lot of them.

**“Your phone? It’s over there. Why’re you blaming** **_me_ ** **for it being noisy?”** Pointing at the seat parallel to them, Kampa whined, though continued to swipe through the stations they had cleared. It hadn’t been much of a start with how far they were from most of the thangs, but they had to start somewhere.

**“Oh. Huh.”** Wrasse yawned, picking up the phone and tilting it towards her before going into almost a form of shock at the sight of what her phone showed her.

Voicemails? Her voice mailbox was  _ full?  _ Scratch that, someone had been texting her- and calling her all this time? Worse of all, her squidder feed wasn’t up to date? What new horrible jokes about hating rapid blasters would she be missing? Oh, the inksanity!

_ Wait.  _ Voicemails. Why did that seem out of the ordinary for her?

“ **_There’s no signal in the Metro._ ** **”** She thought aloud, saying to no one in particular.

Tilting their head up a bit, Kampa cast a puzzled gaze at Wrasse’s mumble.  **“Whussat?”**

**“Nothing.”** That was a lie, this was a  _ BIG  _ something, but she couldn’t let them know that. Especially not the likes of Ripley- his understanding of technology and figuring out they could have sent out an escape message to someone would probably lead to him absolutely berating her for not informing him earlier. Kampa, as lovely as they were, would also pose a threat of possibly informing any of them, which was something she could not take a chance on. And probably not Xander- he’d probably use it to show off something that was another  _ negative  _ thing about her and go on some sort of tangent on why she”  _ needs to work on being nicer _ ” because of it being a reason why she lost the bet. Bullshit bet.  _ Bullshit rules.  _ It was because of that  _ stupid  _ pact they got stuck here in the first place, that they had to put up with one another’s bullshit on the daily and pretend they were a happy group. They weren’t- the misery was hidden well within both Ripley and Kampa- one too stoic to show the slowly loosening will within, the other too outgoing to ever show any negative emotions. Xander trying to be a leader of a sorts with how he said they’d work together to free these octolings, these same octolings who tried to kill them nearly seconds before they had met. 

_ But that’s selfish, isn’t it?  _ A small voice piped up within Wrasse’s head, and immediately the inkling groaned, sitting down on the train’s bench and looking at her phone, trying to ignore the dilemma within she had sparked. 

Selfishness was another thing that Xander said she needed to work on, on her list of things that kept her from reaching her “true potential”. But this wasn’t selfish- this was just wanting privacy, wasn’t it? Sure it was. To her, it was.

Scrolling through the phones notification bar, she began to read off what she was sent. She didn’t have headphones, so she figured she could just play the voicemails as they were without them. Pressing play on the first voicemail, she felt herself hold her breath at the fact it was the voice of someone she hadn’t heard in quite a bit. She kept the volume at about the lowest setting, holding it near her ear as to almost try to desperately hold the sound as close as possible and as far away from Kampa’s possibly curious ears.

**“Hey Wrasse, you haven’t come to practice in a week. Is something up? I’ve tried visiting your apartment in flounder heights too, and you haven’t answered the door. Did I do something? I know we can work this out. I hope you’re okay, Wrasse. Text me when you can, okay?”**

Benkei. Of course he had been the first person to call her. He had been the first 3 calls- he called every other day, it seemed, only for her to be unable to pick up. That was nice, at least, to know  _ someone  _ on the outside cared for her. Guilt nagged at her, begging to call him back and assure him that she was just on a “wacky” adventure. Even just a text: he had sent one each day of a different cat image, of which it seemed the rest of the eight failed to load due to no connection. But even she didn’t know when she would get off this hell ride- how could she provide him a false promise of return she couldn’t even confirm? 

Forcing herself to scroll past and swipe the notifications regarding him, she looked at the other notifications. The rest of the notices weren’t as pleasant or as comforting; of all the people in the world, they were from Tomini and Damsel. Hell, even Hawke had called her, which meant all the members of team whiteout had been trying to contact her.

Staring at the voicemails, she hesitated, lingering her finger over the delete button, but figuring she might as well listen first.

“ **YO DUMBASS, where the FUCK are you? We have league in a week! We’re supposed to be practicing in turf, stupid! If your stupid fucking ass doesn’t show up-”**

Yeah, that was enough of that.

**_BEEP! Message deleted. End of Message. Next Message._ **

**_“_ ** **MOTHERFUCKER, PICK UP! YOU MAD BECAUSE YOU LOST AGAINST THAT STUPID FUCKIN’ HANDSOME SQUID, HUH? SO YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE IT OUT ON ME, DAMSEL, AND HAWKE? FUCK YOU! GET YOUR STUPID AEROSPRAY ASS BACK HERE BY TOMORROW, OR SO HELP ME GOD, WE’LL FUCKING REPLACE YOU! YOU’RE AS WORTHLESS OF A TURF PLAYER AS YOU ARE A FRIEND!”**

Wrasse wished she had deleted this message as quick as she did to the previous one. She really, desperately did. But the paralysis of the moment came and went, and the message was gone before she could finally recover the strength to delete it. Lifting her head briefly to oogle the ceiling of the subway car, she sighed, closing her eyes and holding a hand against her head as to ease the furrow in her brow and to clog whatever emotions seemingly had her choked up.

**“Wrasse? You good, bud?”**

Kampa had seemingly taken notice to her odd behavior with her phone, but Wrasse acted quick and swiftly on it.

**“No- this** **_stupid_ ** **level of squid squad is so hard! I’ll give it to you later to solve though. I want to try a bit longer.”** She smiled, masking what she could of what her true intentions were.

**“Hah! Guess I’m just better at squid squad than you. I’m gonna go check out how Ripley and Xander are doing- I’ll be back in a bit. Don’t waste too many lives on that level though!”** Kampa offered an equally warm smile back, getting up and making xer way to the door of the subway car, sliding the door open, and going to the car further down the line where the two mentioned were resting for the time being.

**“Yeah yeah.”** Waving her hand at the octoling, she now raised the volume, holding the phone further away from her head as she listened to the final message.

**“Hey Wrasse… this is Damsel, your favorite pal and as you should know, the only one who gives a shit about you. Well, besides Hawke, but they suck, so-**

**“Hey!”**

**“Oh hell, speak of the devil.”**

**“Hey, are you leaving a message for… Wrasse?”**

**“Well, I was, but you interrupted me, dickhead. What do you want to say to her?”**

**“Look, I don’t know what got you mad with Tomini, because like, same man, but please come back soon. Benkei said you haven’t been talking to him either- it’s not like you to miss your music or your team.”**

**“Hawke, don’t get her hopes up like that!”**

**“What do you mean?”**

**“[sigh]...Wrasse, I wanted to leave this message because Tomini got a replacement for you.”**

**“WAIT-He WHAT? DAMSEL WHAT DO YOU MEAN? WHEN WAS THIS ANNOUNCED?”**

**“Yesterday. Wrasse, I’m sorry, I held out for as long as I could on him, but he just couldn’t keep waiting. You’re always welcome to come watch us though. Take care, Wrasse. Miss you.”**

The voicemail ended there, and to be honest, Wrasse was so gracious that Cod had gotten Kampa to leave at the time they did. Because to see Wrasse in the mess she was in now would probably have killed her. 

Replaced.

She was replaced.

She was forgotten, she was replaced, it took them less than 3 days- that was the span of the calls, mind you- to be replaced.

How long did she have before Benkei replaced her? How long did she have before everyone forgot about her? How long did she have before she forgot about herself?

Her cheeks felt warm with wrath, and her eyes couldn’t stop crying before she had even finished listening to the whole recording. What a mess. What a disgrace she was in this saddened, sickly state. 

Who was she, if she was not a member of team whiteout- a guitarist for the Graydients? Noone. She had started her life in inkopolis as a nobody, and because of how easily she had thrown it out, she had returned to that state.

She was a nobody, and no one would bat an eye at her disappearance. Everyone had to move on, right?

**“Wrasse?”**

Through a muffled sob and slight panic, the inkling quickly turned her head away from the sound, holding her breath as to prevent being caught. What did it matter though? These guys were just as unimportant as she was- she could cry in front of them. No one cared. No one would anyway. The voice wasn’t from the peppy octoling she knew- it was from the one who had dragged her down here.  _ Cod,  _ she sniffled,  _ there I go again, making him the perpetrator. Neither of us knew, for fucks’ sake! We were just doing stupid things! Why can’t I stop being so resentful? _

His voice was calming, soothing, something desperately needed despite her insistent hiding of her face and frantic wiping of her eyes. Taking in a huge breath, she finally turned her head to face him, noting his hand on her shoulder and a look of concern across his face. Despite her efforts, he could see through this- and especially noticed the wet on her cheeks.

**“Wrasse, it’s okay, what’s wrong?”**

She couldn’t bring herself to speak, whether it was cowardice or physically being unable to, and instead darted her gaze elsewhere. Oh, right- her phone. She should probably close that to not be suspicious. Pressing the power button on it, it seemed she only gathered more of his suspicions, as he proceeded to sit down next to her with a hand still on her shoulder.

**“Did something happen? Was it Kampa? I can go get them, you know-”** His gaze observed her phone intently, trying to survey it for issues. There was no broken glass, there wasn’t anything wrong with the exterior buttons, and it seemed like it performed fine. He wasn’t sure if Kampa had really crossed the line today with their antics… or was it something else?

A quick nasal-sounding inhale was all that broke the looming silence before she finally formed words.

**“No. You don’t need to. I’m fine.”**

He scoffed at that.  **“I’ve gone against you in battle tons of times. I’ve also bested you once. I know when you show signs of weakness- and crying isn’t one of them. Come on, Wrasse, I’m your friend- at least, I hope I am. Tell me what’s bothering you.”**

Her silence was deafening once more, but she figured, if he was so persistent, he could hear for himself.

Turning her phone on again, he noticed the small, though ever flickering sight of signal. One bar- but a bar nonetheless. 

**“Woah, we have signal here?”** He took out his phone briefly, only to stop at the notice of her opening the phone application. He stared on blankly, before realizing what she began to play.

**“Hey, this is Tomini’s voice, isn’t it?”**

The message continued, and the smile that formed on the inklings face dissipated rather quickly, turning into a face of immediate understanding and distaste.

**“Man, hell with him. He’s a shit talker- you’ll be fine when we get back.”**

_ No, I won’t be.  _ But she didn’t waste words. Instead, she opened up the third message, and to this, she noticed the droop in his overall expression at the last words that Damsel said.

**“What a piece of** **_shit_ ** **! And you’ve been in his team for how long, three years? Cod, I can’t recall being in Inkopolis and not hearing about team whiteout, as annoying as you all are.”**

_ What good was this “pep” talk he was trying to offer?  _ **_“Hey!”_ **

His grip on her shoulder tightened briefly to get her attention.  **“Look, and look at me close, Wrasse. That inkling is a waste of time- three years, to be precise. But you are** **_not._ ** **You are a wonderful, arrogant yet skilled aerosprayer main. Just because he says he replaced you doesn’t mean shit. He can try all he wants to, but he’ll never meet an inkling as talented as you are. He should feel honored he even so much as had you on his team at all!”**

Still, she remained silent, merely pulling her legs up from dangling over the edge of the chair and tucked her head in between her knees as she held them close. 

**“When we get back to Inkopolis-”**

**“** **_If.”_ **

**“Oh no you don’t, there you go with that negative attitude of yours. We** **_will_ ** **make it back to Inkopolis, you hear me? If it’s the last thing we do, we will. But when we do, we’ll make a team of our own, and splat them** **_into the ground!_ ** **You, me, Kampa, and Ripley.”** Xander held a proud grin on his face, but it was an honest one. One that genuinely believed in her.

Still, she seemed hesitant, her gaze going from him to an old worn advertisement on the other side of the train, scrolling through the text messages of which now seemed to be from Tomini.

**“Youch, this guy’s so fucking rude. Guess you learned your insults from the best, huh?”**

Snorting, she lowered an eyebrow at him in her casual, “ _ go fuck yourself,”  _ type of expression. His comments helped to lessen the sinking in of it all though. It stung hard, but he helped, and that was what counted.

**“Hey, do you want me to send him something worse? I could end this man’s career if you wanted, you know.”**

Giggling, she handed him the phone, watching eagerly over his shoulder as he started typing away, putting in words after words that she had no clue were as wicked sounding as they were. Hell, she didn’t even know half of these words existed. As he lingered over the send button, he then turned to her, watching her nod ever so eagerly before hitting it. They exchanged a glance of equal mischief, that is, until the phone proceeded to beep, showing them there was no more signal. Whatever little bars had been present were now gone- and as was the chance to counter for now.

**“Damn. Send it later then- but make sure you show me what he responds with. I think he won’t- he’ll probably block you like the coward he is!”** Handing her back the phone, she tucked it into her pocket before once again resting her head on her knees, exhaling heavily. Moving his hand from her shoulder to her back, he offered one last bit of advice.

**“You don’t have to go through everything alone, Wrasse. We’re here for you, and we mean it. You’re with us now, and don’t you forget it.”**

He got up, walking over to the door where Kampa had gone through previously, before looking back at her. Without further words, he slid the door open, walking through.

**“Don’t you forget it.”** She restated his words, staring at the ground ever so awkwardly, unable to really process much.

_ And how do I know you won’t forget me, then? _


	5. still, its a sharp shock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hawke realizes that they may or may not have a preference for a specific squid.

**“You coming, or what?”** Sable raised an eyebrow at the squid before her. Hawke was, to say the least, a weirdo. They worked for Kensa, which was a really “ _ goth”  _ brand in her eyes, and were practically nocturnal because of it. _ What squid would willingly waste their days away just to design clothing?  _ They were also a goo-tuber main, which...was a  _ really  _ weird name for a weapon as well as a weird weapon on its own. All in all, the signs seemed to point that this squid was a _ weirdo!  _ But today, this weirdo would be buying Sable some shrimp croquettes, and Sable would make sure that such happened. After all, having lost in the match beforehand against them in the first place had really worked up an appetite on the squid. She would not be robbed of her free food, so what was taking them so darn long?

**“Huh?”** Hawke, on the other hand, had little to say about Sable. She was this short, happy go lucky squid he seemed to always be facing, who wore the same beanie every day. Did she even wash it? They didn’t know. They weren’t willing to ask- they didn’t speak much to begin with.

**“I said, are you coming with? To Crusty Sean’s? You literally asked me two seconds ago, how could you forget? What’s goin’ on in that dumb brain of yours?”**

When Sable got annoyed, she always had this cute expression that Hawke liked to joke about on occasion. She would just get flustered before swatting them with something and changing the topic, which they never minded. For once, Hawke found themselves unable to so much as bring it up.

**“Oh- uh, right. Sorry.”** Instead, they found themselves flustered, surprised by their own lack of being able to speak. Despite the rough start, the two made themselves to the food cart and the line in front of it, staring at the menu and moving whenever possible. Normally looking at the menu always helped to clear their mind, but today they still couldn’t figure out what was bothering them so much. Was it the fact the food looked 90% better on the advertisements on the menu than in real life? No, they had already complained about that before. Was it because Hawke always paid? No. That was never an issue.

_ So what’s this weird feeling in my gut?  _ Hawke was puzzled, to say the least.  _ Food poisoning?  _ Definitely not, they hadn’t been running to the bathroom as often as one with food poisoning would’ve.  _ Stomach bug?  _ No, still would be using the bathroom like crazy. With each passing thought came an additional step forward as someone would be served. And of course, for once they had stumbled and taken too far of a step, accidentally bumping into the octoling before them in line. Xe had turned around, noticed it was Hawke and Sable, and waved to both of them.

**“Hey, well look who’s trippin’ on me! You two nerds waitin’ to get something to eat too?”**

**“Y-yeah, it’s the only food around the lobby anyway.”** Hawke stuttered.  _ That’s weird. Why did I stutter? I’m not nervous around Kampa. They don’t intimidate me at all. _

**“Mhm! And this goo tuber guy is gonna get me some shrimp croquettes with the extra gooey sauce!”** Sable elbowed Hawke in the gut as the spoke about them, though Hawke didn’t flinch at all. Instead, they felt as though they were made of stone from how unable to react they were.

**“...Hawke? You good bud?”** Kampa asked, noting the stoic expression on Hawke’s face.

**“Huh-** **_yeah_ ** **I’m fine! Why- Do I look strange or-”**

“ **Nothing, just curious. You seemed kind of out of it. Oh shoot, I need to move up, sorry guys!”** Kampa, noticing the gap before them, moved forward and proceeded to speak to Crusty Sean, placing an order for some kelp fries with a side of a seaweed mango smoothie.  _ Eugh _ .  _ Why add seaweed to something that’s good on its own?  _

As the octoling placed xer order, Hawke came to the conclusion that whatever that gut feeling was, it must’ve been hunger. It couldn’t have been that they were distracted at all by the cute pins in her beanie, or the dumb excitement that Sable had as she was ever so prepared to get her gremlin hands on some fried goodness that is croquettes. And it absolutely wasn’t her that had prevented them from realizing that Crusty Sean had said “how can I help you” twice at this point. Nope. Totally not.

**“Hey, airhead! You listening? What did you want?”** Hawke was snapped back into reality once again by Sable, and found themselves scrambling to respond.

**“Huh-what-** **_oH_ ** **Sorry Sean, can I just get a strawberry banana smoothie?”**

**“Sure thing. DAMSEL, GIMME ONE ES-BEE SMOOTHIE!”** Crusty Sean shouted over his shoulder, the only other person in his food cart shouting back with an “ **AYE-AYE, CRUSTY!”** before grabbing a cup and the aforementioned fruits and shoving them into a blender after quick yet precise peeling. 

As the two waited at the tables nearby with their order number, Hawke found themselves now coming to possible terms with what this horrid “ _ fever” _ they had was. Maybe it’s not so bad- maybe this could work out!  _ Probably not. Definitely not. _

Checking her phone, Sable suddenly found herself wearing a frown at a text she had received, before turning to Hawke.  **“Hey, after this bite I’m gonna have to leave, Ezra needs me for something. I don’t know what, but I bet it’s something dumb.”** She laughed, and for a minute Hawke found that to be the sweetest, most serotonin-inducing noise they had ever heard. 

**“Bet it’s not as dumb as you.”** Hawke responded, before realizing the words that had just fallen out of their mouth. Hm. Not a good response.

Gasping, Sable acted in mock shock.  **“How could you! Why, Hawke, you’ve disgraced my bloodline forever!”**

**“I didn’t-”** At first, they attempted to try to fix the words they had just said, before shrugging it off and just going with the joke.  **“I didn’t say your whole bloodline was stupid. But I guess maybe they were to make you.”** They were digging themselves a bigger hole.

Good thing Sable saw the grave and sat right in it.  **“OUCH, that one stung a little! But not as much as it stung when you died against me two seconds before the end of the match!”** She retorted, taking a swing at them now.

**“Oof, that one got me. Too bad we still won the game.”**

**“I can change that.”** She challenged, placing a non-threatening hand on the table.

**“Is that so?”** They put a hand over hers, unaware of having done such.

**“ORDER 54!”** Crusty Sean yelled through his food truck’s audio system of which caught the attention of both Hawke and Sable. Of course, Hawke also took note to having placed their hand on top of Sable’s, and found themselves in a bit of a sudden panic, pulling it away quickly. Getting up from the metal chairs, the two walked over to the truck and picked up their croquettes and smoothie, Hawke waving at Damsel who seemed to clock in her lunch break. They watched as she left from the back of the truck, sitting down on the back steps of it and eating a small sandwich that she probably had made earlier.

Back at their own table, Hawke began to sip at their smoothie while Sable gobbled up the ever so crunchy croquettes. Placing the cup on the table, they huffed to themselves, before Sable looked at her phone again and panicked. Seeing a call, but having a croquette in her mouth and in her hands, she was unable to answer, and instead flipped the phone over in distress. Gulping down the last of the fried shrimp goodness, she grabbed Hawke’s drink and proceeded to chug a sip of it, while Hawke just watched in sheer surprise.

Slamming the cup down, face still littered in greasy crumbs and looking like a total mess, Sable jumped to her feet and slipped her phone in her pocket, waving to Hawke as she pushed the chair into the table. 

**“Alright gamer, I gotta blast! See you on the flipside, alright?”** She smiled at them, before running towards the lobby.

Staring at drink, Hawke was more surprised when Damsel found herself situated in the seat in front of them.

**“You look sick. Spill it, tin man.”** Damsel snorted, now being the third person to take a drink of their smoothie.

**“Damsel, you’re not gonna believe it, but I think… I think I got a crush on Sable.”**

_ The last thing Hawke expected was for Damsel to **spit** said smoothie **back at them.** _


	6. hate to let you down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> damsel understands that sometimes you can hope all you want, but unless you do something, some things just won't come into fruition.

Damsel had known Wrasse since the two of them were the tiniest of squids. They had been in the same squiddergarten class, and it was at that very moment that Damsel had took to Wrasse as a friend. She was loud, in charge, and amused Damsel for every day she so much as came to school for. Any day she wasn’t there would be a cold, boring day- what else would there be to do but wonder where she was? Each second spent alongside Wrasse was one that Damsel could enjoy, so why did she feel so cold around her now?

Flash forward a solid decade and a bit, and the two were still just as close, if not closer in Damsel’s eyes. Anything that bothered her, any drama she had to tell, it was always Damsel who got the first scoop on whatever it was. She was the first one to come up, the first priority,  _ the One.  _ And to her...Wrasse was  _ the  _ one. 

She had never questioned her enjoyance of her fellow squid. They had the same sense of humor, were on the same team, and would boast to each other about who got more splats on the enemy. It wasn’t just in turf matches that they’d be side by side, but they’d hang out at each other’s apartments often and just watch movies and do stupid things, like try to bake cookies amongst other things. Which typically turned out burnt, but neither of them seemed to care, enjoying the time they spent alongside each other.

But did Wrasse enjoy it as much as Damsel did? 

Damsel had no idea- no guts to so much as even look at Wrasse in the wrong way that might imply such feelings. They would talk about cute girls and the like on occasion, but it had never occurred to Wrasse that Damsel might be vaguely speaking about Wrasse. To be honest, she preferred it that way. How do you tell your best friend you don’t want to just be friends? That you wanted more out of what you had between each other?

_ I don’t fuckin’ know.  _ Damsel had always figured she would do it eventually. Maybe it would be a spur of the moment thing, that Wrasse would start the conversation and Damsel could bounce off of it, and everything would be okay. But sometimes she felt the time she was taking was just too long. 

The squid was waiting at the train station which was also taking way too long as , she needed a ride to the Starfishbucks at the lobby as Wrasse had texted her to meet up there. When asked about it, Wrasse had told her it was a  _ “surprise.” _ Surprises, when it came to Wrasse, were always some of the stupidest things. But they were from Wrasse, and no matter how dumb they were, she always found herself amused by them simply because of how they were things that Wrasse really put effort into. Anything that she found worthy of showing to her would be worth it, regardless of how pointless or dumb it was. But normally surprises were brought to her, sent to her, shown in the apartment-  _ never this far.  _ It felt uncertain. Something was wrong.

_ No, nothing’s wrong. _ Damsel quelled the worrying rat in her brain, huffing against the window of the subway.  _ I’m just going to visit a surprise my best friend and crush has to show me. I bet it’s gonna be something cool. Wait- what if she’s asking me out?! Hm… would Wrasse do something as public as that?  _ Maybe she was expecting too much out of it.  _ Okay, I could probably act and finally ask her out instead. Maybe  _ _ I  _ _ can be the one to give her a surprise! _ Checking her phone, she was a bit surprised to not see another text from Wrasse.  _ Always like her to make me start the conversation.  _

**Damsel [Not in Distress]: lol your surprise better be worth my train ticket**

**Wrath [wrasse]: haha you’ll like it i promise! ;-)** **  
****Damsel [Not in Distress]: you’re killing me bro**

**Wrath [wrasse]: am i? then my surprise will really be the nail in the coffin! >:3**

**Damsel [Not in Distress]: loool love u dumbass. I cannot wait to see what bullshit ur “surprising” me with** **  
****Wrath [wrasse]: DONT BE MEAAAAN it’ll be good!!!! you’ll enjoy it. just show up on time u dingus lov u!!!**

Rolling her eyes at her phone, Damsel felt her brain twitch a little. They had always said small things like “i love you” and given each other dumb nicknames. It nagged at her conscious-  _ she doesn’t mean that. She only likes you as a friend and nothing more.  _ Snorting at her own thoughts, Damsel scolded herself as she got off the train,  _ Well, if she does, that’s fine. She’s my best friend though, and I’m going to be here for her no matter what. Besides, it’s not like she’s the only squid in the world. Why am I thinking she’s going to do something to tell me she doesn’t like me? What the heck.  _ Damsel had no idea what had been giving her such frustrated vibes, but she certainly didn’t like it.

Entering the main hub of Inkopolis, she walked past the entrance to the lobby and made a sharp right, finding herself at the Starfishbucks in question. Looking through the glass viewing area they had, she couldn’t spot her squid friend just yet, but thought nothing of it and instead kept walking towards the proper entrance, pushing the glass door open to get into the cafe.

The wisps of burnt coffee beans and vanilla flavoring seemed to add a nice pungent hint to the air in the building. It provided a sense of security, something Damsel knew she needed at the moment. Either the air conditioning was too strong here, or she really was just getting goosebumps anticipating what was awaiting her here. She didn’t have much longer to wait, of course.

Each guitar string that was plucked seemed to be another heartbeat that Damsel felt vibrating within her. She didn’t have to think twice, let alone look twice to tell who was playing it as she entered further into the cafe in question, finding an empty booth near the small performance.

Her hands glided across the guitar as she played, each note intricate yet an incredible array of noises alongside the drums of her sea urchin drummer while...a manta ray that Damsel had never seen before sang along. He was a baritone for sure, but Damsel had no idea what that word meant, aside from being a voice type that Wrasse had discussed with her once. The last thing Damsel had expected the surprise to be was the conceiving of a band, yet she found herself surprised she didn’t realize it earlier- this was one of the things Wrasse had so dearly wanted to make for _ years.  _ It made sense. It was a surprise because of how she was so excited to share one of her passions with her best friend! How nice.

As the song came to a close, the nearby customers offered a polite round of applause, while the manta ray merely bowed in thank you as did the rest of the band. Damsel stared at him suspciously-  _ why hadn’t she given herself the main role of singer?  _ With as big of an ego as she tended to boast, it was kind of strange to see her as someone on the sidelines in a band.

**“Damsel!”** Wrasse cheered as her band began to pack up their instruments, the sea urchin being the quickest at folding up the parts that he could of his drum set which seemed much larger than he was.

**“Wrasse the ass, I didn’t know Big Time Gush came back together to perform in front of me.”** Damsel snorted, earning a light punch on the shoulder.

**“And you call** **_me_ ** **the ass?”** Wrasse snorted, rolling her eyes.  **“Anyway, did you like it? What’d you think?”**

**“I think this is the hottest music I’ve heard in a bit.”** _ And also sounds like every other indie band, _ but she wouldn’t say that.

“ **Forreal?”** Wrasse’s genuine excitement was something that reminded Damsel why she had came here in the first place- to support and enjoy her friend,  _ her Wrasse, her- _

**“Oh, hold up. Benkei, get over here!”** The inkling yelled over her shoulder, to Benkei’s surprise.

_ Benkei? Who the shell- Oh. _

He was the manta ray. Whatever, no big deal.

**“Hi there.”** He waved politely, a stoic expression on his face. He was… scary tall. Wrasse had sworn he was almost as tall as Marina. He almost made Wrasse look like a gremlin.  _ Which, to be fair, she kind of is. _

**“This is the singer of the band. Andddd my new boyfriend!”**

If Damsel had a glass cup, dropping it would’ve best explained the noise she felt in her heart.  _ Her what? Her  _ _ HUH? _

**“Woah, what?”** Damsel wanted to stop herself while she was ahead, but… this was just a  _ lot  _ to take in.

**“Yeah! We met during classes and I asked him if he wanted to join my band, and things sort of went from there. He’s really nice!”** Wrasse’s smile felt cold to look at by this point. They were friends, right? Why hadn’t she told her? Why hasn't she heard  _ ANYTHING  _ about this guy? What did he have that she didn’t?  _ Why? _

**“It’s nice to meet you, Damsel. Wrasse has told me a lot about you.”** Bad way to introduce yourself to a jealous best friend.

Damsel eyed him up, trying to figure out what it was about  _ him  _ that made him the water chesnut of Wrasse’s eye.  **“Is that so? She** **_didn’t_ ** **tell me about you.”** _ Bitter _ . That was a rude reply.

**“I’m so sorry, I didn’t have any time to set up the band and handling work** ** _and_** **school. I thought today would be a good day to introduce you** ** _and_** **show you the band!”** Wrasse glossed over the issue with the shittiest verbal glue Damsel had ever heard. But what could she do? Cause a scene? No. That wouldn’t be right. _Neither was not telling me about him until now. But two wrongs don’t make a right._ _You wanted her happy, didn’t you? Well, she’s happy. Not with_ _you._

**“It’s fine!”** _ It’s not.  _ **“Really, don’t worry.”**

**_“_ ** **Augh. Oh, if you want a free drink, you can just tell the barista’s you’re with us, alright?”** Wrasse smiled, while Damsel came to terms with the choices she had at hand now.

_ I can leave. I can avoid all of this and sulk at home. _

_ Or I can stay here and support her finding happiness in someone and  _ _ not being selfish. _

_ Is it selfish to want her to have at least told me? _

_ No. But it’s selfish to want it to have been you instead. _

**“Damsel?”** Wrasse’s voice snapped her back to reality.

**“Sorry, I was just… uh, watching your drummer! He’s neat.”** Damsel did her best to provide herself a cover up for why she was so zoned out

**“Huh? Yeah, Scoot’s neat alright. He’s feral sometimes.”** She laughed, and Damsel hid her now slowly setting in disappointment.

**“Is that so?”** _Don’t. Leave. Get_ _OUT._ **“How about we see how he reacts to caffeine?”** Damsel jested, though her brain tempted escape.

And yet she didn’t.  **“I’m gonna get myself a mocha, you guys want anything?”** Instead she offered to get them drinks as well, and found herself knowing she would linger for an hour longer here. No matter how much heartache she pushed down with each gulp of the bitter drink, she knew she couldn’t leave Wrasse with nothing. 

_ I never did get to say what I wanted to.  _ She considered the silence she had always let interrupt their moments together, before huffing to herself.  _ And now I never will. _


End file.
